


Under the Mistletoe

by thatwriterlady



Series: 25 Days of the Holiday Season [11]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Attraction, Castiel/Dean Winchester First Kiss, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Party, Dean Winchester to the Rescue, F/F, First Kiss, First Meetings, Flirting, Fluff, M/M, Mistletoe, Nurse Dean Winchester, Post Covid 19, annoying ex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:15:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28087572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatwriterlady/pseuds/thatwriterlady
Summary: After Covid-19 finally is under control and America begins to relax and open up again, Dean is invited to a Christmas party by Charlie. It's his first time getting out of the house for anything besides work and he is thrilled just for the chance to socialize. He doesn't expect seeing a very handsome man being harassed, but he sure isn't going to just stand by and watch it happen.Just an adorable Christmas meet cute full of fluff.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Charlie Bradbury/Gilda
Series: 25 Days of the Holiday Season [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2037259
Comments: 13
Kudos: 127





	Under the Mistletoe

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sure this plot has been done to death, but I wanted to write something fluffy, and I've been looking at some prompts for ideas. I'm also a little too sick and sleep deprived to think hard right now, lol. Still, I hope you enjoy this one. Happy, happy holidays, everyone!

**Dec 11th:**

**_Under the Mistletoe~_ **

Dean was in a good mood. Work had been great all week, he’d gotten to see his parents, he’d had a zoom call with his brother and now he was at the first party he’d gotten invited to since Covid had finally been brought under control. He’d been quick to get his vaccine and once everything had opened up he’d done what everyone else had done: he’d gotten back to living.

He wasn’t sure whose house this was, but he’d been invited through his friend, Charlie. She’d assured him that she’d been told she could invite as many people as she wanted, even though she’d decided to only invite him and her girlfriend, Gilda. He smoothed his hands down the front of his sweater, then made sure the dress shirt underneath it was tucked in as he stepped through the front door. Immediately his eyes were assaulted by blinking lights and there was garland  _ everywhere _ . When he looked to his left he saw a beautiful tree, all decked out with twinkling lights and what looked like handmade ornaments. Stockings hung from the chimney and there was mistletoe in every doorway. He made a point of avoiding it.

“Hey! About time you got here!” 

He smiled when Charlie came running up and hugged him. Gilda gave him a hug too. 

“Whose house  _ is _ this?” He asked.

“A guy I work with, his name’s Gabe.” Charlie replied.

“Gabe,” He chuckled. “The short, blond, guy with the candy obsession?”

“Yeah, that’s him.” Gilda giggled.

“Gabe’s a good guy. Maybe likes his sweets a bit too much but he’s good people.” Charlie said.

“Tree’s beautiful,” He remarked. “So is this house. It’s absolutely massive.” 

“Gabe’s a tech wiz, it’s why he’s making the big bucks. He’s the VP of technology,” Charlie had a glass of wine and tipped it slightly in the direction of a blond man who was having a very animated conversation with a couple of women who seemed delighted by whatever he was saying. “He’s a charmer, that one.”

“I can tell,” He laughed as his gaze panned around the room, taking everything in. It wasn’t crowded, there were maybe thirty people total, and there was instrumental Christmas music playing. It definitely set the holiday mood. “Where’d you get the wine? Do they have anything else? Beer maybe?”

“Kitchen is that way,” Gilda pointed to a door on the right. There were people standing around talking, all careful not to stand under the mistletoe. That made him laugh. “There’s a variety of things. They have those Angry Orchard drinks you like.”

“Ooh,” He rubbed his hands together excitedly. That sounded better than beer. “I’m going to go grab one, I’ll find you in a few.”

He nodded politely to people as he passed them and ducked into the kitchen, avoiding the mistletoe as much as anyone else was.

“He goes a little nuts with the decorations,” A woman to his right said as he plucked a bottle of the hard cider from a bucket of ice. There was hard lemonade too, the blood orange one he loved and he wanted one of those later. “Are you a friend of Gabe’s?”

“No, I’m a friend of a friend. My friend Charlie works with him,” He popped the top on the bottle and took a sip. “What about you? How do you know him?”

“I work with him too,” She said with a soft laugh. She offered her hand and he shook it firmly. “I’m Donna. I’m in product development.”

“I’ve met Gabe a handful of times. He’s a nice guy.” He told her. Sure, Gabe could be a bit much, but he wasn’t a bad guy.

“He used to throw parties before the pandemic but the second he caught wind of it in 2019 he canceled everything. Usually he throws a Christmas party, and then another one at New Years. It was a New Years party back in 2014 that I met my wife. She was a friend of his brother and she’d been invited. I took one look at her and I  _ knew _ I had to talk to her. We’ve come to his parties every year since then. Barring last year, of course.”

“Trust me, I know. I’m a first responder, so I was dealing with that every day. I’m a nurse at a hospital affiliated clinic and I swear we had a hundred people a week calling in. We were sending them to a specially set up lab to be tested because the lab attached to the clinic wasn’t set up to handle that kind of volume. That, and it is also the urgent care, so it’s not safe to have them testing there.”

“Oh, but you stayed safe? You didn’t catch it, did you? What about your family? Are you married? That was a big fear of mine, that I’d bring it home to Jody, or that she would bring it home to me.”

“I’m not married, and during a pandemic, I am glad that I wasn’t involved with anyone. I had that fear too. I did catch it, unfortunately, but my symptoms were pretty mild. I quarantined at home. I’ll admit, it took me a while before I felt back to myself. Once they started giving out the vaccine they put all first responders at the front of the line since we were the ones still caring for those that were sick. I’m just glad we got it under control,  _ finally _ . It’s nice getting out of the house for something other than work. I missed socializing.”

“I saw that on the news, about the first responders. Some people at work were raising a stink about not getting to be first, all because they felt they deserved it more than anyone else. I gave a few of them an earful. I’m glad you got better though. Gabe had it, he was out of work for almost two months, was working from home because he was so sick. He’s better now, but he still has some Covid related health issues. He doesn’t talk about them though. This is the happiest and most animated I’ve seen him in a long time.” Donna said.

“The whole world is healing, and our country is way too far behind everyone else. But...we’re finally doing it. There’s only been seventy-two cases over the last three months, none in this county. When Charlie invited me tonight I almost jumped for joy. I haven’t gone anywhere except to work, to the store, or home, and I mostly got my groceries delivered. Sometimes I just sat in my backyard. I did  _ a lot _ of zoom calls,” He laughed. “Even with family and friends. I didn’t want to risk exposing them, so I was doing those calls pretty much every day.”

“Oh, us too,” Donna nodded. “Granted I work with a lot of my friends, I didn’t see my family for most of the year. I really missed my mom.”

“Me too. I wasn’t risking their health just because I wanted a piece of my mom’s pie or a hug. Besides, she mailed me pie.” He laughed.

They talked a bit longer and when her wife, Jody found them she introduced her to Dean. They talked about work and about other things, until the ladies were called away by another friend. Dean had finished his cider so he grabbed a hard lemonade and started making his way back to the living room. He was ten feet from the kitchen when he heard people arguing. Well, it was one man arguiing, and trying to keep his voice low while the other man seemed to be hitting on him. He watched the interaction for a minute and quickly figured out that the attractive man with the dark hair wanted the other man to leave him alone, and that the other man was his ex. Seeing the ex trying to press him back against the wall and how uncomfortable it was making him, he decided to step in. He forced a smile onto his face and marched right up to them.

“Hey, baby, I’m  _ so  _ sorry I was late, I couldn’t get Sammy off the zoom call.” He kissed the dark haired man on the cheek, breathing in the clean, earthy scent of his shampoo. He smelled pretty amazing.

“O-oh, that’s ok,” The guy practically clamped down on his hand. “How is Sam?”

“He’s great. Misses us, and he’s cranky because he won’t be with the family for Christmas. He got the Ninja and wanted me to say thank you, because he knew you picked it out,” Dean laughed easily. The ex had backed off a bit and was looking at him with a mixture of confusion and irritation.

“Who’s this, Castiel?” The man demanded. Dean didn’t like his attitude.

“ _ I’m _ Dean, who are you?” He made sure to look annoyed. It wasn’t hard though, he  _ was _ annoyed.

“Dean, this is Elliot,” Castiel told him, and squeezed his hand again. He turned his hand so their fingers were slotted together and squeezed his back. 

“Ah, the ex that doesn’t know the meaning of the word no,” Dean nodded. “Yes, I remember you mentioning him.”

“What the fuck?” Elliot glared at him before turning on Castiel. “What the fuck did you tell this guy?”

“I told him the truth,” Castiel scooted closer so he let go of his hand and slid it around his waist. “He knows that you cheated, and that you won’t stop calling me. He’s been after me to change my number because you make me so damn mad! I’m doing it too, tomorrow morning.”

“Good,” Dean said. “Want me to go with?”

Castiel looked at him and he was suddenly unable to breath. From a distance the man was beautiful but this close? With the bluest eyes he’d ever seen staring at him? He was  _ breathtaking _ . He smiled warmly, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he did so. He shook his head.

“No, you don’t have to, unless you want to.”

“Sure, then we can get lunch afterwards.” Dean hoped maybe he could really ask Castiel out after this, but he didn’t want the man to think he owed him or anything. He’d accept a no with grace and excuse himself.

“Cassie,” Elliot whined his name and Dean was taken aback by the sudden fury in Castiel’s eyes when he snapped his head around to glare at him.

“No, you do  _ not _ get to call me that! Only my family gets to call me that!”

“Oh, but I’m sure  _ Dean _ gets to.” Elliot was actually pouting. The guy had to be at least forty...and he was pouting.

“Actually, he told me how much he dislikes anyone calling him that. I use his name, but sometimes I call him Cas,” Dean said. “I respect his wishes.”

“Whatever,” Elliot muttered as he started backing away. “I don’t know why I even bother, you suck in bed and you’re such a priss. Hope you like your fish ice cold,  _ Dean _ .”

“What in the fuck,” Dean muttered as he watched Elliot walk out, deliberately slamming the door as he left the house. “You dated that prick?” He realized he still had his arm around the man’s waist and let go.

Castiel was quiet. He sighed before nodding. “Unfortunately, yes. I’m aware I have horrible taste in men,” He turned so he was facing him. “I suppose we should formally introduce ourselves. “I’m Castiel Novak, and you are?”

“Dean Winchester. You’re a Novak? Are you related to Gabe?” Dean asked as he shook his hand.

“Gabe is my older brother. Are you a friend of his?”

“An acquaintance. I’m friends with Charlie and Gilda. Charlie works with him.” He replied.

“Oh yes, I know Charlie. She’s very nice,” Castiel tilted his head and he seemed to be studying him. “Thank you. I haven’t been able to get him to leave me alone since I broke up with him. He is mentally abusive, and he is bad about gaslighting. He tried to make me feel like it was my fault that he cheated. My self-esteem is not so low that I let him. I broke up with him and moved on.”

“Good for you, no one deserves to be treated like that. I was coming out of the kitchen and I saw what he was doing. I could see how uncomfortable you were and I thought, if I could get the jerk to leave you alone then you could enjoy the party.” Dean offered his most charming smile. He wanted to put Castiel at ease.

“Well I greatly appreciate that. It’s not like anyone else as stepping in, they were just standing around watching. Are you, I mean, do you,” Castiel took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Are you...gay? I don’t mean to offend, I was just wondering.”

“I’m bi,” Dean leaned against the wall and took a sip of his drink. “With a strong lean towards men the older I get. I haven’t dated a woman in about ten years,” He gave that same disarming smile again. “Why do you ask?”

“Are you single?” Castiel got right to the point.

“I am, and I’m guessing you are too, am I right?”

“I am,” Castiel’s smile just made him even more beautiful. “Are you free tomorrow night?”

“Yep. I’m lucky, I have a day job, Monday through Friday. I get off at six, I’ll be home about ten minutes after that. I can be ready by seven. Does that work for you?”

“That works perfectly,” Castiel took his hand and waited for him to push off the wall. “I need something to drink. I love Hard Lemonade, especially the blood orange like you’re drinking. I hope there are some left.”

“I think there were some more. Come on.” Dean led him to the kitchen and once Castiel had his drink they went to leave. Gabe popped up in front of them.

“Cassie! I heard you were here, and that Elliot came. Not  _ with _ you, I hope.”

“Hell no,” Castiel sniffed. “He was here when I arrived and wouldn’t leave me alone. Dean got him to leave though.” He smiled at Dean and received a smile in return.

“Dean, you’re Charlie’s friend, right?” Gabe asked.

“Yeah. This is a great party, thanks for letting her invite me.”

“Of course, of course! Glad you could make it.” Gabe patted his arm.

“I’ve met some pretty amazing people tonight,” Dean smiled at Castiel who blushed, even as he smiled back. Gabe grinned knowingly and pointed up.

“Well, amazing people, you just  _ happen _ to be standing under the mistletoe.”

They both looked up before turning their gazes on one another again.

“He’s right, you know.” Castiel pointed out.

“Indeed. I think we should do something about that, don’t you?” Dean asked.

“Yes, indeed.” Castiel agreed before grabbing the front of Dean’s sweater and pulling him close. He planted a kiss on the man that they both ended up laughing through.

“Way to go, Cassie!” Gabe cheered.

“Oh shut up,” Castiel laughed. “Come on, Dean, let’s find a spot where we can sit and talk.” He took Dean’s hand again and led him out into the living room. Gabe shook his head in disbelief before walking into the kitchen. 

“I think we shocked your brother,” Dean teased as they sat down together on the loveseat near the fireplace. It was cozy and he motioned for Castiel to snuggle up against him. “My brother would have bitched at me, then found Charlie so he could gossip to her.”

“Younger brother?” Castiel asked with a chuckle. Dean laughed and nodded.

“How could you tell?”

“Because that’s something I’d do to my brothers.” He laughed.

“Well, I look forward to getting to learn everything you’re willing to tell me.” Dean said with a smile. Castiel smiled back.

“I’m really glad I let my brother talk me into coming tonight.”

“I’m glad Charlie invited me,” Dean said.

“So,” Castiel scooted closer and crossed his legs as he got more comfortable. “Tell me about  _ you _ .”

  
Dean already liked him, and the conversation flowed easily between them. Their date the following night was great and it was followed by another Christmas Eve afternoon. By the New Year’s party, they were attending together, and everyone knew they were an item, including Elliott who showed up, saw them all cozy and kissing and turned around and walked right back out. Two weeks after that Dean learned that  _ nothing _ Elliott had said about Castiel’s skills in the bedroom was true. The man sure knew how to rock his world!


End file.
